Page:Apocryphal Gospels and Other Documents Relating to the History of Christ.djvu/88

lxxxiv (5.) The Story of Veronica. — At p. 218, I have said all that is requisite about this. Malela says, and truly, no doubt, that he took it from a book in the possession of a Christian Jew named Bassus, but he gives no clue to the date of its production. It does not profess to be a contemporary document, and it probably grew out of the circumstances reported by Eusebius. The name of Veronica, or Berenice, figures in a number of legends, more or less ancient, the most popular being that which represents her as lending the Saviour a cloth to wipe his face, on the way to crucifixion, and receiving the cloth back from Him, with His likeness upon it. The petition of Veronica, preserved by Malela, is an undoubted forgery. It may be noted that Eusebius (Hist. Eccles. vii. 17, 18) does not mention the name of Veronica; neither does Sozomen (Hist. Eccles. v. 20). Malela simply speaks of a monument or stele, without indicating its form. The original records of the cure of the woman (Matt. ix. 20-22; Mark v. 5, 25; Luke viii. 43) show that it did not take place at Paneas. They still pretend to show a house of Veronica at Jerusalem.